A treadmill for skiing and making pizza shapes

Iain Martin & family go on a dry run before he takes 6-year old twins on their first skiing holiday.

For many British skiers and snowboarders, the first day of the annual vacation is often simply a matter of finding your ski legs again. After a year off, it takes time to get into the rhythm of skiing again.

Suited and booted

One way of avoiding this is to go along to a dry slope or one of the UK’s many indoor snow slopes. However my recommendation would be to head to your nearest Skiplex (www.skiplex.co.uk). There are now two centres in the UK – one in Chiswick, and one in Reading, with another scheduled to open in Basingstoke later this year.

I wanted to give my 6-year-old twins the chance to try on skis and boots and get some practice before their first skiing holiday. It was perfect for this, and even better than I had hoped. In the hour we were there, the children became adept at putting on and taking off their skis.

Making pizza shapes

More importantly, thanks to Max, their instructor, they became confident balancing on their own and ‘making pizza shapes’ (snowplough to you and me).

We’ll see how much it helps when we get to resort, but it feels like that one hour lesson was worth at least half a day, if not more, on the mountain.

Many thanks to Inghams for giving us the opportunity to test Skiplex out.